Parable

How to spell parable

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce parable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does parable mean?

1. nounA short story that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson.

Parable in a sentence

• The preacher built his sermon around a familiar parable about forgiveness.

• She explained the company's ethics through a simple parable about sharing.

Where does parable come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek parabole, which literally meant 'a placing beside' or 'a comparison', built from para 'beside' and ballein 'to throw'. The underlying idea was of throwing two things side by side so they could be compared, which is exactly what a moral story does when it sets an everyday situation next to a deeper truth. Latin took the word in as parabola, and in everyday speech it drifted toward simply meaning 'speech' or 'a saying', which is why the same root eventually gave French parler 'to speak' and English words like 'parole' and 'palaver'. The religious sense, a short illustrative story, came into English through Old French during the 1200s, strengthened by the parables told in the Gospels. The very same Greek root, throwing things alongside one another, also gave us the mathematical 'parabola', a useful reminder that the middle vowel is an 'a', not the schwa the ear expects.

How the word is built

• para- (beside, alongside)
• bol (a throwing, from Greek ballein 'to throw')
• -e (noun ending)